From Terri Tipps, VP Conference Planning

Welcome to the ASDP 28th Annual Educational Conference in Denver, Colorado! The Board has been diligently working to ensure a wonderful and memorable conference experience for all attendees. As you begin planning your travel arrangements, we're here to provide you with essential information and options to make your journey as smooth as possible.

Airport and Transportation: Denver International Airport (DEN) is the primary airport serving the Denver area and the guide outlines various transportation options available to get you from the airport to the hotel.

Special Shuttle Service: To enhance your conference experience, the Board is considering offering a special shuttle service from the airport to the hotel on Thursday, 18th. Priced at $30, this service would be available for morning/early afternoon arrivals. By arriving early, you'll have the opportunity to participate in our charity sewing event and join us for the Welcome Reception. We kindly request that you let us know if you're interested in this shuttle service by contacting conference@sewingprofessionals.com. If there is sufficient interest, we will make it available for pre-purchase.

If you have any questions or require further assistance regarding conference travel arrangements, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at conference@sewingprofessionals.com. We're here to help!

As you embark on your journey to Denver, we eagerly anticipate your arrival and the valuable contributions you'll bring to our conference. Your commitment to attending early for the charity sewing event and Welcome Reception will make a positive impact on our community. Thank you for being a part of the ASDP conference, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Check out the Conference webpage for all the details, including our Guide to Planning for Conference!

When I first heard about the Master Sewing and Design Professional Certification, I was going to school for Fashion Design.  It was there that I learned most designers don’t sew. What?  I couldn’t imagine that.  I love the whole process of a custom garment from sketch to pattern to sewing and creating.  I decided that I would at least finish getting my Associates Degree and then go on to apply for the MSDP. 

I waited until I learned when the scholarship registration opened up in the Spring of 2018 to start my journey.  I wanted to develop not only more confidence in myself, but having the certification would give prospective clients more confidence in me in how I can serve them.  The certification shows I mean business.  I take my work seriously.  I am not simply doing this as a hobby. 

Between the scholarship and a sponsorship through my husband’s work, I began my journey that summer.  Besides all the further learning going through this program, one of the biggest lessons that I could not have foreseen is learning to go for your dreams and goals while living life and all that it throws at you. A lot of life happened during my time going through the certification.  A lot!  So when I received my certification, it meant so much more than I could have even imagined. 

Upon receiving the certification, at that moment, I really felt a physical movement within me.  The confidence thing?  The feeling of accomplishment?  Perhaps both.  For the ones who say you don’t need this or that to get confidence in what you are doing, I say it’s personal.  For me, the MSDP certification did for me what no self-talk alone can.  There needs to be some action of sorts to go along with self-talk and self-motivation. 

The MSDP certification is invaluable in learning not only more about our profession, but about self-accountability, manageability, and perseverance.  I still can’t believe I made it through, but I did.  And since I did, I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.  I fully support and recommend any and everyone to go through the program if they want to further their skills and be the best at what they do.

Are you a sewing professional looking to take your skills to the next level? The Master Sewing and Design Professional (MSDP) certification may be just what you need to demonstrate your mastery of the craft.

Based on Standards of Quality by the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals (ASDP), the MSDP certification is a performance-based testing program that validates your skills and expertise in the field of custom sewing. But certification isn't only about personal achievement – it's also about improving the quality of the work that we do as a community.

When we hold ourselves to high standards and strive for excellence, we elevate the entire industry and create a culture of collaboration and support. As skilled sewing professionals, we understand that custom sewing work requires precision, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of materials and techniques. By pursuing the MSDP certification, we can show our clients and colleagues that we are committed to providing the highest quality work possible.

By becoming certified, we also become part of a community of professionals who are dedicated to supporting one another and sharing knowledge and resources. The ASDP is more than just a trade organization – it's a network of colleagues who are passionate about their craft and committed to helping each other succeed.

By pursuing the MSDP certification and becoming an active member of ASDP, you can connect with other skilled sewing professionals, learn new techniques and best practices, and access valuable resources and support. Together, we continue to elevate the industry and show the world the value of quality custom sewing work.

Are you ready to pursue the MSDP certification? Find out more information online at sewingcertification.com.

Voices is a monthly Zoom meeting hosted by ASDP that provides its members with a platform to connect, learn, and grow in their careers. The meetings feature expert presentations and group roundtable discussions on relevant business topics, making it an excellent opportunity for members to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, techniques, and technologies in the sewing and design industry. 

The meetings also offer a chance for members to network with other professionals and showcase their own expertise, gaining recognition within the profession. As a recurring event, Voices provides a regular opportunity for members to stay engaged with the sewing and design community and expand their knowledge and skills. We encourage all members to attend these monthly meetings and benefit from the valuable insights and knowledge shared by experts and peers in the field.

Additional information for Voices, including the meeting link, are available in the Member Center.

Writing a business bio can be a great way to introduce yourself and your company to potential clients, customers, and partners. Here are a few tips for writing a business bio at different lengths:

Short bio (1-2 sentences)

This is a very brief introduction to you and your business. You might include your name, the name of your business, and a quick summary of what you do.

Example: "Hi, I'm John Doe, the owner of Doe Consulting. We specialize in helping small businesses grow through effective marketing strategies."

Keep it short and sweet: A short bio should be no more than a few sentences and should focus on your most notable achievements and the value that you bring to your clients.

Medium bio (1-2 paragraphs)

This is a slightly longer bio that gives more detail about you and your business. You might include information about your background, your experience, and the services or products you offer.

Example: "I'm Jane Smith, the founder of Smith & Associates. I have over 10 years of experience in the consulting industry, and I've helped dozens of businesses increase their profits and achieve their goals. At Smith & Associates, we offer a range of services, including market research, branding, and social media management, to help our clients succeed."

Expand on your experience: A medium-length bio can be a paragraph or two and should provide more detail about your background and experience. You can also include information about your company's history and mission.

Long bio (2+ paragraphs)

This is a more in-depth bio that provides a comprehensive overview of you and your business. You might include information about your values, your vision, and your specific expertise or areas of focus. A longer bio can provide more detail and context about your business and give potential customers or clients a better understanding of who you are and what you do.

In a longer bio, you may want to include information about your background and how you got started in your business, as well as any notable accomplishments or achievements. You can also highlight your unique approach and philosophy, and discuss the benefits of working with you. It's important to be authentic and genuine in your writing, and to use language that is engaging and easy to understand.

Example: "My name is Sarah Johnson, and I'm the CEO of Johnson Enterprises. I've always been passionate about entrepreneurship, and I started my first business while I was still in college. Since then, I've built a successful career in the tech industry, working with companies of all sizes to develop innovative products and services. At Johnson Enterprises, we believe in the power of collaboration, and we work closely with our clients to create custom solutions that meet their unique needs. Our team is made up of experts in various fields, including software development, design, and project management, and we're always looking for new challenges and opportunities to grow."

Tell a story: A longer bio can be several paragraphs and should tell a more complete story about your business. This is an opportunity to showcase your unique approach and personality, and to highlight the benefits of working with you.

Regardless of the length, it's important to keep your business bio professional and focused, using clear, concise language. You want to make a good impression and give readers a sense of who you are and what you do, without overwhelming them with too much information.

Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

• Keep it professional: A business bio is not the place to share personal details or opinions.
• Use active language: Rather than listing your accomplishments, use active language to describe what you do and how you help your clients.
• Proofread: Make sure to proofread your bio for spelling and grammar errors.
• Keep it up to date: Make sure to regularly update your business bio as your company grows and evolves.

"SMART" is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It's a commonly used framework for setting goals that helps ensure that they are clear, actionable, and attainable. 

Download:

SMART Goals Worksheet

SMART Goal Tracking

How to write your S-M-A-R-T goal

S – Specific

When setting a goal, be specific about what you want to accomplish. Think about this as the mission statement for your goal. This shouldn’t be a detailed list of how you’re going to meet a goal, but it should try to answer most of the popular ‘w’ questions:

• Who is involved to achieve the goal?
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Which resources are needed, are there any related obstacles?
• Why is this goal important?

Use action words to be clear and specific about the goal. “S” actions may include:

Update	Write	Coordinate	Evaluate	Develop
Provide	Manage	Create	Implement	Plan

Watch out for verbs like “improve,” “reduce,” or “increase”, e.g. “improve customer service” or “reduce cost.” These imply a broad direction, but are not specific actions that you will take to accomplish a change.

M – Measurable

What metrics are you going to use to determine if you meet the goal? You need to have a way to measure progress or determine whether a goal has been achieved.

A measurable goal should address questions such as:

• How much?

• How many?

• How will I know when the goal is accomplished?

If it’s a project that’s going to take a few months to complete, then set some milestones by considering specific tasks to accomplish. Setting milestones to build a series of steps gives you a way to track progress toward completion of your main goal.

A – Achievable

A successful goal needs to be realistic and attainable, but it is a good idea to stretch your abilities. When you set an achievable goal, you may need to identify opportunities or resources that can help you develop the skills needed to accomplish the goal.

R – Relevant

Relevance refers to focusing on things that align with the other goals. Ask the following questions:

• Does this seem worthwhile?

• Is this the right time?

• Does this match with other efforts/needs?

T – Timely (or Time-Bound)

Ask specific questions about the goal deadline and what can be accomplished within that time period. If the goal will take several months to complete, it’s useful to define what should be achieved half-way through the process. Providing time constraints also creates a sense of urgency.

What is copywriting?

Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.

Email copywriting is the process of sending a communication to your prospect with the intention of encouraging action. Not every email will use copywriting, but even small improvements in your writing can show results.

Spending time to improve your copywriting skills will boost your ability to communicate better with your prospects and clients.  

1. Keep your audience in mind

Every aspect of your email should be crafted with the audience in mind.

Are you writing directly to consumers or a business-to-business communication? to a specific individual or a generalized group?

Consider how the writing style and format can support your message.

Evaluate word choices and tone. Use relatable language to help you connect and build relationships with prospects. Avoid using industry jargon that might be confusing.  

Use a Marketing Persona to picture and connect to your prospect. I believe that listing basic demographics is good (age, gender, educational level, income) but offers little insight into consumer motivation. I recommend digging deeper into psychographics. Behavior patterns, interests, motivations, and goals give you better ways to understand your audience.

2. Tell a story

Get personal. Don’t be afraid of emotion. Look for ways to make a connection with the reader.

Write copy as if you were talking to a real person. Keep adding details to your Marketing Persona(s) and write for that ideal customer.

Telling a true story gives you an opportunity to let your personality shine through and try to connect with your readers through a shared experience. It can be difficult to find a narrative that makes your reader feel something AND works to connect them to you or your company.

Using anecdotes to describe potential problems lets you set the stage for your solutions.

Testimonials are relatable stories. They increase credibility and help a potential customer picture the complete process.

Don’t underestimate the importance of telling your story and what led you to create your product or service in the first place.

3. Look at the structure

People’s time is valuable. Make your content scannable, increases the likelihood it will get read.

Break up longer blocks of text with sub-headings and using shorter paragraphs. Aim to stick to one idea or theme per section, usually 3 or 4 sentences.

Highlight keywords or phrases. I recommend sticking with bold or italics. Stay away from all caps. Remember changes in font type or size look drastically different between the multitudes of devices that are used to read emails. What looks fine for some can quickly become unreadable for others.

Using imagery such as photos, illustrations, or infographics can also serve to break up the visual space.

4. Focus on Benefits

Know your product.

Making a list of your product features is easy, but it isn’t personal. Features are forgettable.

Copywriting may include the features of whatever you’re writing about, but what you’ll really want to focus on are the benefits. Benefits tell the reader what’s in it for them. Benefits are personal and memorable.

Benefits are how a product offers to satisfy needs, desires and wants. What do you hope your consumer gets, feels or achieves when they use your product? How can your product make their life better?

Staying benefits-focused helps you make a personal connection.

5. Include a call to action

In most cases, the goal of an email is to encourage the reader to take a specific action. You want them to buy something, click somewhere, or call and make an appointment.

The call to action (CTA) should be clear, specific, and straightforward. A strong CTA will:

a. Clearly state what exactly what you want the reader to do.
b. Provide details on what will happen after they take action.

Be cautious of being pushy or aggressive. People want to feel in charge of the buying decision, not feel “sold to”.

As writers, we want our audience to think, feel or act in a certain way after reading your message. Copywriting is aimed at sales. Sometimes your message focuses on less direct goals. Is there something you want your reader to learn, think differently about, or understand better? Blurring the line into content marketing; your call to action will probably not be as strong.

Like other types of writing, copywriting is a skill that improves with practice. Keep these guides in mind when writing your business emails to improve your copy, connect with your audience, and grow your business.

I hope these guidelines will improve your copywriting! Let me know which is your favorite or share a tip that you have found helpful.

Alignable is a small business referral network that encourages business owners to build relationships within their business communities, with a focus on increasing brand recognition and word-of-mouth referrals for their business. It is much like a social media platform for small business owners to network with each other.

Alignable has been around since 2014, has 6 million registered businesses as members of the platform, is US-based and with more than 30,000 local communities. It leads with the business brand first but then shows the people behind the business. You can add a logo and a picture at the top like your storefront. It lets you add products or services you offer, events and pictures. Groups are formed around common interests and give members a place to interact, post articles, and ask questions. Alignable is similar to LinkedIn but designed for small businesses. Both have their unique opportunities for networking, but I’ve found Alignable to be a great option to connect with other sewing related businesses that feels a little less overwhelming.

It is free to set up a profile, but Alignable does offer paid premium accounts if you find it works well for your business. One word of caution: Alignable, similar to many other platforms, will try to upsell you on the paid accounts and may seem overly aggressive with email frequency, so be sure to adjust your notification settings if you find you are getting more emails than you prefer.

Interested in joining? Take a look at the profile for ASDP, read more about Alignable, and decide if you want to try it out.

Visit ASDP on Alignable

5 Steps to Getting Started With Alignable

1. Set up your profile.

Alignable strives to be conversational so there is a place for your logo and a headshot. The photo of you will appear when you comment, communicate, and answer questions in the Forum. Take the time to carefully describe your business and select the tags that best represent what you do and who you want to work with. Remember to fill out your products and services. This is a great opportunity to clearly define what you offer.

Set up your profile before you connect to people or invite people to join you on Alignable. I would not just invite everyone in your email or LinkedIn list, but pick people that are open to trying new things or are already on Alignable that you know. Select people to join or connect with that are valuable to you. Their value comes from being a good business person that you feel has something positive to offer in their products and services and the way they do business.

2. Learn the Platform

Take a little time to learn how the system works. You can check in on your network, give and get recommendations, and participate in Groups by answering questions posed by the members.

Alignable likes to keep in touch with you via email to encourage your participation but you may find that you’re getting tapped too often. Go in and adjust your email settings so that you are getting the notifications that are beneficial to you.

3. Give Recommendations

Look at your connections and identify the people that you know and would happily recommend to people for products or services. Your recommendation doesn’t need to be more than a couple of sentences, but it should tell why you think they are worth paying attention to and why someone would want to do business with them.

What you are doing is paying it forward. You are bringing positive, and valuable, attention to your connections and contributing support into our business communities!

4. Answer Questions

Alignable will send you questions from people who are in your field. They may or may not be connections, but your connections will see your answers. By participating in the Forum and Groups you are sharing your expertise and keeping your name top of mind.

You don’t have to answer every question Alignable sends you, but if you feel you have a positive and helpful answer, then go for it. We’re all in this together and there is likely a time when you’ll be interested in finding out a best practice from another professional. Understand that this is not the place to bait people to work with you or to sell your product. This is where you can ask or answer sincere questions about doing business better.

5. Commit to It

I understand that you’ve got your fingers in a lot of social media right now and you’re thinking that one more will put you on overload. If you want to give Alignable a good test, I suggest you make a plan: devoting about 10 minutes each work day (taking weekends off), find 3 businesses a week and write a thoughtful recommendation, etc.

Just plug it into your calendar, set the timer, and see what happens when you start planting a local seed. You’ll most likely find that your network will expand and you’ll develop some great camaraderie within your community. And I hope your business will improve.

If you want to start a fashion brand, chances are you want to make a small amount of products to begin with. But finding a factory who are willing to take on small orders can be tough. So what can you do instead? Find out in this video.....

Register for my free Masterclass, 'How to Get Your Fashion Ideas Produced, Without Wasting Your Time and Money' here;

https://thefashionbusinesscoach.com/freemasterclassinfo  

The Colorado chapter invited ASDP VP of Education Lalon Alexander, Ph.D., to its April meeting.  Lalon is VP of Education in addition to her duties as a University fashion professor and president-elect for the Costume Society of America.  Lalon talked about various forms of ASDP education, including Eye of the Needle, national conference, University of Fashion, and new programs being considered.

Eye of the Needle is the name for new videos available to ASDP members on the national website under Resources.  This program started in January of this year (2021) and is funded by ASDP’s Charitable Foundation.  Videos by ASDP members lasting 15 minutes to over an hour include hints, techniques, and ideas for creativity.

Lalon informed us that details about this year’s national conference will be available May 15, 2021, in the form of an online and e-blasted brochure.  Participants can attend one to several days and can attend Master Classes and/or core conference classes.  Master Classes this year include Bonnie Carmicino’s beginning couture techniques, Barbie McCormick’s men’s alterations, and Claire Shaeffer’s couture tailoring (based on her new book).  Claire will also offer a shorter version of her master class: Tailoring in a Thimble.  [More class titles can be found at Association of Sewing and Design Professionals - Conference Deposit (sewingprofessionals.com).]

Fifty-seven ASDP members have preregistered for this year’s conference and they can register for classes starting July 1.  Members not preregistered can register for classes starting July 15 and non-members can register starting August 1.   Ideas for classes next year are now being solicited on the web site.  That conference will be held in mid-October 2022 in Baltimore.

Lalon is looking at training for the MAS and MSDP certification programs, an apprenticeship program, and education for brick-and-mortar businesses.  Details about these programs are still being determined; members who already offer appropriate training are being identified and hopefully educational discounts can be offered to ASDP members.  In parallel to this, Lalon is looking at updating the ASDP Standards and Quality document and adding to the Pattern and Illustration Standards.

When asked about University of Fashion, Lalon noted that ASDP members get about a 90% discount.  However, many members do not take full advantage of this program; only 35 of 65 paid UofF memberships activated their accounts last year.  Anyone who loses their activation code should contact Lalon.

Lalon also asked for ideas for future education.  Ideas included upcycling garments, software for digitizing patterns, and copyrighting patterns.  Also desired were sources for US-made fabrics, sustainable fabrics, “dead stock”, and how to transfer stash fabrics among members.

Anyone with additional ideas for ASDP education can contact Lalon at education@sewingprofessionals.com.